Astray
by gibbonsarenotmonkeys
Summary: Set seven thousand years before the events of the movies, Astray is a tale of two young jedi surviving through the second great schism, falling in love, and falling to the darkness. In progress, R&R please!
1. Escape

A Star Wars FanFiction by Riamca

It was dark in the dormitory when I opened my eyes, darker than I remember it ever being before. I wasn't afraid though, I'd never been afraid of the dark. To fear the dark was only a symbol, to fear the unknown, and while I was certainly afraid of the latter, the dark was a warm, familiar blanket I'd gladly wrap myself up in. It was late at night, and the other girls in the room were still beneath the covers, save for the gentle pattern of breath each one of them possessed. I slowly drew myself up into a sitting position, stifling my yawn with a hand, and lowered my skinny little legs to the marble floor. I knew perfectly well I wasn't to be out of bed at this hour, but I couldn't help myself. An irresistable pull drew me to the metallic door, and I raised my hand to the touchtone pad that would open it. Silently, it slid open, and the light that fell through it cut into my blanket of protective darkness like a knife, slicing through the familiarity with a keen edge.

I felt my feet slapping against the cold floor before my mind registered the motion; I was running. How or why that'd happened, I wasn't sure, but it wasn't long before I was outside the door to one of the other dormitories, one just a little ways from my own. It was the boys room, and the room of my friend. The touchtone pad didn't work for me here, and would detect my escape and report it to my teachers. I'd have to get around that. I squeezed my eyes shuft tight, and focused on what I wanted. 'Open, open, open...' Although I was the only one who could hear my little voice in my head, it was only a moment before I heard the quiet click of the lock, and the door slid open. I crept inside, my eyes quickly adjusting to the minimal light, and stole across the room to where I knew he'd be sleeping. Without even thinking about why I was doing all this, I placed my hands on his shoulder and shook him, ignoring his grumbled moans of protests as he roused.

"Drace! Drace, wake up!" My voice sounded much more urgent than I thought it should be...I didn't wonder why, although I didn't know, either. It wasn't of consequence. Right now, the only thing that mattered was doing what that irresistable pull wanted me to. I was helplss to it. After a moment, my friend sat up, rubbing his eyes, and I grabbed his wrist. He protested as I yanked him out of bed and towards the door, he too weary to argue much. I dragged him through the stone halls of the temple without too much trouble, after he ceased his whining, as though the same pull that drew me was now working on him, too. We had just made it to the main hall when we heard the footsteps. Ordinarily, footsteps would never scare me, not here. But the pull told me, made me back against the wall, cower behind a large stone pillar, and Drace followed willingly.

I didn't see them when they walked by us, nor did I catch the words they spoke in hushed voices, but I was glad when their footsteps faded and finally went away, and I started on the journey again. Drace needed no prompting to follow along, and I felt sure the only reason my hand was still clamped in his was for our mutual security.

We reached the hangar bay undisturbed by anyone else, until we saw her. There she was, dressed in the plain brown tunic of a jedi, her hair twisted into the braid of a padawan, standing before the control console, waiting for us. We didn't try to hide, knew there was no need. She regarded us for a silent moment, and I would later learn how silly we looked, two seven year olds in our night clothes, clinging to one another as we left all we'd ever known behind. And she nodded, pressed a button, and whisked us away from it all.

And somehow, I always knew that if she hadn't, we would've died that night.

--

Her name was Terryn Soralia, sixteen years old, and now in charge of raising two children all by herself. We barely spoke that first night we met, Drace and I sat in the sleeping quarters of the small cruiser we'd taken, drifting in and out of sleep, while Terryn piloted the ship through hyperspace, taking us to the outer rim, outside of republic space. Here, the Jedi council wouldn't be able to help us, even if they could find us. But, it wasn't until the second day that this stopped worrying me.

I was cycling through the star map when it happened, checking over our course for the past twelve hours to make sure it didn't intersect with any trade routes. Terryn had already explained that we were here because the force willed it, it had been what had made her whisk two younglings from the academy, abandoning both the order and her master in order to do what she knew she must. What she didn't know was why. She'd been in meditation, leaving Drace to watch the auto-pilot light blink softly, for almost three hours now, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened, something horrible.

And then the pain hit. It was like a knife, twisting in my heart like an assassin's dagger, then leaving a devastating hole where it had been. It felt like my insides had been torn out and strewn about the tiny cabin. Drace fell out of the pilot's chair, and I knew his pain was the same as mine, as I gasped for breath on the cockpit floor. Terryn barrelled through the door then, her breathing erratic and beads of sweat forming on her brow, her eyes wild as she looked at the two of us, then sank down to the floor in defeat. Drace and I were still gasping for breath, for while the pain itself had gone by, the hole that it'd left was still something we couldn't deal with. She looked lost in sorrow, and I touched her knee, my wide eyes curious.

"They're dead," her soft voice was hollow, her eyes didn't see me, only looked through me, as though she didn't even mean for me to hear. "The entire jedi order...I can't feel any of them." I didn't understand what she could mean. The force linked all jedi, but a few dying couldn't hurt this much. And it hurt, it hurt so very much. Tears streamed from Terryn's eyes, and she shook her head, not believing it could be true. "Oh no, oh no, no no no no." She mumbled, and she sat there, a shadow of herself, for what seemed to me to be a great many hours. Drace and I took turns making sure the auto-pilot stayed on course and looking after her, until we had to shake her out of her reverie. That would prove to be our difficulty.

"Terryn, you need to eat. Get up!" Drace ordered her sternly, and standing he was the same height as she was sitting on the floor. He put his hands on his hips and scowled at her commandingly. "If you don't eat, you'll waste away, and you'll die! And then you'll be just like the rest of the order!" I winced. That was definitely not the right incentive. As I watched them, a slow beeping emerged from the console before me, and I jumped.

"Drace! It's beeping at me!" I squeaked, my wide eyes switching between him and the furiously blinking red light before me. I heard his light footsteps behind me, and I kept my eyes on the screen before me.

"We're here." He spoke after a moment, then looked to Terryn. "Where's here, exactly, I don't know. We never studied this planet." I stood on the seat to look out the wide window of the ship. It was a planet thick with green, dense with more greenery than I'd imagined a planet could have. My eyes widened. I didn't recognize the shape of the continents, or the oceans. He was right. "Terryn? I don't know how to land." He added, and I turned around to look at our new mentor.

For the first time in hours, Terryn's eyes seemed to open, and she blinked the dead look away from her eyes. "Right. Of course." She breathed, lurching to her feet on legs that were still wobbly. She barely made it into the pilot's seat as I hopped out of it, peeking around the chair as she took the controls and steered us down to the planet's surface. I watched out the window as we descended into the masses of unruly plantlife, trees whose growth had been curbed by no one, growing tall and unrestrained. My mouth dropped open with the knowledge that no one else lived here, that this was a place that belonged only to the beasts.

Once we touched down on the surface, Terryn returned to her zombie-like state. We stayed inside the ship for almost a week, talking very little, eating the emergency rations stored in the ship. As our food and water supplies diminished, Drace and I started to consider the possibility of leaving the ship on our own to look for supplies.

"If we stay close, we should be okay." Drace said as he looked through the compartment that held the weapons, sifting through until he found a plasma torch that was about the right size for him. "You need a weapon too, Sakina." He looked to me, but his stern look was ruined by the surprise that took his face as Terryn lifted him off his feet, wrenching the torch from his grasp. She didn't set him down until she'd locked the compartment again.

"Sakina, I know you can open this. But you're not going to until I get back, are you?" I could only nod in agreement to her, and Drace frowned at me.

"We can help you! We're not babies!" He argued, seeming all the more childish for it. Terryn shook her head at him before she headed out the door.

"Wait for me here."


	2. Life

"Drace! Drace, come on, dinner's almost ready!" I jumped from branch to branch nimbly, the way I had a million times since we landed, more than five years ago. I knew exactly where he was, and he knew I'd be coming for him. Yet, he always made me come all the way anyways. Jerk. "Draaaace..." I dropped down to the forest floor in the middle of the clearing on my haunches, and folded my arms over my chest as I stood. I sighed to the empty clearing. "I know you're here."

Silence.

"Fine. Stay here. No dinner for you." I rolled my eyes and started out of the clearing, back towards home. About halfway back to the trees, I heard a stirring of leaves and sighed softly, dropping down to the ground as a blur of blue light swiped the place my head had been only a moment ago.

"How do you always know?" Drace's voice was whiny as he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're noisy, that's how. Now come on." I stood again, and continued to the trees, jumping up into the branches and heading back the way I came. Drace put away his training lightsaber and followed me, trying in vain to catch up with my nimble movements. I smiled smugly to myself, I was still taller than he was, and faster. Stronger was debatable, but in a duel, I beat him every time. Hence why he spent all his free time in the clearing, practising with his pet, Reeler. We weren't sure what species Reeler was, but he was very intelligent. A few feet tall, he was a four legged animal with a soft layer of green fur, a long tail that was good for grasping things, and long legs that made jumping through the trees as easy for him as it was for me. Even now, he'd already caught up to me, his long tongue trailing out of his mouth as he raced me home.

Reeler was the first to burst through the wooden pane that served as a door to our treetop bungalow, followed by me, and a few minutes later, Drace. The three of us tumbled into a heap near the door, under the reproachful eyes of our mentor, Terryn. She'd taken care of us for the past five years, and now, she placed her hips and tutted at us, our steaming dinner already on the table. "You're late." She raised an eyebrow at us as we disentangled ourselves, looking at our feet as we stood up. All except Reeler, who strutted around her to his bowl on the ground, chowing down on the contents as quickly as he could.

"Sorry, Terryn," we spoke in perfect unison, and she rolled her eyes, then went over to the table. We followed her, taking our seats with grins visible on our little faces. Our home was about as primitive as a home could be, made out of thick tree branches, vines and the large leaves that could keep the rain out. We built it high in the trees, both for protection from the dangerous ground-dwellers, and because this way we could let more sunlight filter in to see by. There was very little technology around here, only the electronic pads that held most of the database from their shuttle, which Drace and I studied for a few hours every day. He always fidgeted and complained the whole time, and Terryn constantly had to bring him to task. He fared much better at combat training, but while he grasped the movements much better than I did, my superior size had him trumphed. As we ate, Drace told Terryn about all the things he'd practised today, and she smiled softly.

"And what about you, Sakina? What did you do today?" They both turned to me, and I looked down to my food, shuffling it around the plate as I thought about my day.

"Well...I explored the western forest a bit." I shrugged, I knew they'd both be smiling, prodding me to continue. "And I found a waterfall a few miles off the path." The path was the way Terryn had explored for us, the way she knew was safe. We were supposed to stick to it, but recently, she'd let us have a bit more freedom, as long as we were careful.

"Cool! You have to show me! Can we go after dinner, Terryn, can we, can we?" Drace was more excited by this than I thought he should be, and I looked up to the pair of them. Terryn smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Terryn!"

"But...it's kind of far...and, I mean, it might be hard for you to get there before dark..." I looked to Terryn, biting my lip. When we first arrived here, Terryn had been mauled by one of the ground-dwellers. Her leg had been damaged, and so she couldn't jump through the trees as easily as we could.

"Then I won't go. I trust you two will be okay on your own?" This was unusual. Terryn liked to insist she come with us most anywhere in the evening, particularly if she didn't know that we'd be going someplace she knew was safe. "Just don't stay out too late, got it?" This was even more unusual! Ordinarily, we had to be back before dark. Not that I was going to argue, it just seemed strange to me.

"Awesome! Thanks Terryn!" Drace was overjoyed by this.

--

The sun was already starting to set by the time we reached the waterfall, and I was a bit nervous about getting back home before dark. Even if we didn't have to be, it made me nervous to think we wouldn't make it. Drace was at ease, though, looking around curiously like he always did. I found myself a perch in a large tree across from the waterfall, watching the sunset behind it, creating little rainbows in the spray. Drace wandered off, but I wasn't worried. He knew better than to stay if he sensed a ground-dweller down there. He was back sooner than I expected, hiding something behind his back as he took a seat next to me. Interested, I tried to look behind him. "What've you got there?"

"Oh, um, well, I saw them...and they, uh, made me think of you." He replied nervously, and shrugged as he thrust a handful of large orange blooms towards me. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and smiled. I took them from him and inhaled deeply of their sweet scent.

"Thanks, Drace!" I looked up to him with a big smiled, and he blushed, looking down in reply.

"Well...uh, I'm glad you like them. I mean, they're pretty, and all, so they reminded me of you, cause you're really...umm...pretty, and stuff." Drace was beet red now, and stubbornly refusing to look at me. I felt a flush rise up to my own cheeks, and I looked down to hide it.

"Thanks." I mumbled, nervous to look at him. Emboldened by my similar reaction, Drace leaned in closer to me, and his hand entwined with mine on the tree branch, and we watched the sun set in silence.


	3. Abduction

"There, it's finished." Drace announced proudly as he stepped off the exit ramp of the ship. He swung his newly constructed lightsaber through the air quickly, the blue blade glowing fiercely against the green backdrop, grinning like a maniac as he watched it. We didn't go onboard the ship much, but when we were building our very own lightsabers, Terryn said the technology in there was necessary, and so the last few weeks had been spent almost solely in the cramped quarters of the ship together. I'd finished my lightsaber only yesterday, and had been practising with it all morning.

"Finally. Took your time, did you?" I teased, letting the green light of my saber fade as he drew nearer, standing up staright as I looked up at him. He was almost a foot taller than I was now, the defined muscles of his arms alone proof of his now superior strength. It had been almost ten years since we came to this planet, and over the last two years Drace had a major growth spurt. He claimed I did too, but mine just wasn't in height. He leaned down, his face mere inches from mine, grinning.

"Yeah, I did. So now we can see who wins the battle. The tortoise or the hare?" I rolled my eyes at him, and drew back quickly, dropping into my favourite battle stance and pressing the button that brought my lightsaber flaring to life. He copied me, raising his lightaber above his head and grinning. "No force powers, lightsabers only." He reaffirmed, as if I didn't know the rules.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go!" I smiled, lunging at him, my blade whisking near his side, before a blue light blocked it, forcing me to take a step back and defend against the flurry of blows he unleashed. I barely had time to block one before another came, and I found myself backing away from him. After a few more seconds of this, I realized I was losing, and turned around fully, taking off into the trees. Without missing a beat, he was after me, only a second behind me in the trees. Dammit! Physically, he could beat me. He always could, these days. I knew it was coming before I felt his hand on my wrist, and slowed ever so slightly so that it wouldn't be such a shock when he pulled me to a stop. Within seconds, he had my back against a tree, my hands pinned above my head with only one of his. I scowled at him, and he only smirked in reply. Drace leaned down, bringing his face close to mine, about to kiss me, when I turned my head away. His lips fell on my cheek, and he frowned at me, looking like I'd just stolen his victory from him. "What if Terryn sees?" I hissed under my breath.

"What if she does? She can't control us anymore, Sakina!" He replied angrily as he released my wrists and stepped away, letting me go free. "Dammit, why can't we be together? Because she says so?" I looked down to the ground and slumped back against the tree. We'd been arguing about this a lot lately.

"You know it's against the jedi code." I supplied meekly, I was tired of this fight. He always blamed me for 'siding' with her, but he just couldn't see that I wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted it. I didn't want to agree with Terryn, and in truth, I didn't. But she'd given up her life to take care of us, we at least owed her a bit of respect.

"The jedi code? Is that a joke? We're not jedi, Sakina! We weren't even padawans when we left the academy, and we weren't even trained by a fully fledged jedi knight! She's still a padawan herself." He turned towards me and half-glared at me. I shrinked under his gaze and looked away, afraid. When he realized this, he came over to me, placing his hands on my face and looking into my eyes apologetically. "I'm sorry, Saki. I just...I love you! I want to kiss you, and hold you, and not have you feel guilty for it!" I closed my eyes at his confession, he wasn't supposed to say that. If Terryn heard, she'd be very upset with us.

"Shh, Drace, Terryn..." I swallowed nervously, and resisted the urge to open my eyes and look around. He lifted one hand from my face, and slammed his fist into the tree beside my head. I jumped slightly as my eyes opened involuntarily.

"Terryn! She never leaves the tree house anymore, and you're so worried about her getting mad?! I'm tired of this!" He was angry, I knew, so I didn't say anything. He leaned down towards me again, and holding my face steady, he pressed his lips to mine. Any desire I had to fight back melted away as he kissed me, and I twined my arms around his neck. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't help myself. My eyes closed and I forgot about anything else, all I could think about was how much I wished this moment would never end. But, of course, nothing perfect ever stayed that way.

"Drace! Sakina!" I opened my eyes in panic, and shoved Drace back. Unfortunately, he was much stronger than me, and didn't feel like letting go just yet. My heartrate increased, was he trying to get us caught? Probably. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated, until a moment later, Drace flew back almost five feet, falling to the ground and looking up at me with a sour expression. I gave him an apologetic shrug, and Terryn dropped down between us a moment later. Her scarred face looked between the two of us as Drace got to his feet, dusting himself off casually. I could still feel the blood in my cheeks, and hoped it wasn't a dead giveaway. "So the two of you are finished your lightsabers, then?"

"Yes, Terryn." We echoed one another, and each of us drew our newly crafted weapons, holding them out for her inspection. Looking them both over, she nodded after a moment, satisfied.

"Good work, both of you. You've been practising, then, have you?" She eyed us both suspciously as we nodded, and I couldn't bring my eyes to meet hers. My heart hammered in my chest, and I felt sure she could hear it. After staring Drace down, she finally sighed, turning back the way she came. I could tell her leg was hurting her, and she had to get home to rest. "Stay out of trouble." Once she was out of earshot, Drace turned to look at me.

"I can't believe you force-pushed me." He folded his arms over his chest, and I shrank as I looked up at him.

"You weren't going to stop." I replied timidly as I clasped my hands behind my back. He raised an eyebrow at me and shook his head.

"I would've...if you told me to. I thought we agreed no force powers?" I gave him a disapproving look.

"I wasn't aware we were still dueling." And in a flash, a thick line of green energy was mere inches from his neck. "But if we are, then you'd best give up before you lose your head." I smirked at him as he blinked in shock and gaped at me. I smiled smugly in return, and I felt I was almost able to hear the wheels churning in his head as he went through every possible course of action. Finally, he sighed in defeat and dropped nimbly to his knees, and he looked up at me through the veil of his dark eyelashes, and shadows fell onto his sky-colored eyes.

"Very well, I surrender to your will, oh superior jedi knight. Do with me as you would, my life is yours." The pledge startled me more than some melodramatic mutterings should have, maybe because of the look in his eyes as he spoke? With a showy swoosh, I hooked my lightsaber back onto my coarse leather belt, yet Drace remained on his knees before me. I rolled my eyes at him and placed my hands on my hips.

"Oh no-" I began, but was starkly interrupted when a dark shadow passed overheard, causing us both to look up in surprise. There was nothing large enough on the planet to create a shadow so large. We exchanged a look, but before Drace could get to his feet, they were all around us, dressed in dark cloaks and wielding sharp, dangerous looking swords. I inhaled sharply as one was placed to my throat. Drace lurched to his feet, but two of them caught him under the arms before he had a chance to do much else. I closed my eyes and focused on pushing the blade and the man holding me away, but they both refused me easily, not budging so much as an inch. I couldn't understand it, even Drace and Terryn couldn't stop me from moving them when I wanted to, and right now, I really wanted to. A sharp laugh erupted net to my ear, and was followed by a harsh voice that sounded much less amused. It wasn't directed at me, though, he was clearly speaking to Drace.

"Try anything foolish, and the young lady dies." His voice held a cold, cruel edge that made me know he meant business. He would kill me if he had to. Drace was angry, angrier than I'd ever seen him, muscles tensed as he resisted the urge to struggle against his captors. My eyes only left Drace's when I felt a movement near my left hip; he was taking my lightsaber. "Now where did you get this, my dear?" I could feel his hot breath on my ear, his slippery voice both amused and intriqued, but also rhetorical. I wouldn't answer him, and he knew it. "Search the boy, he's likely to have one also." It took mere seconds for them to locate Drace's newly crafted weapon, holding it out for him to see. "Hmmm, little jedi, are you?" He must've handed my lightsaber to someone else, because I now felt his fingers on the thin braid that I wore along the left side of my face, the symbol of my apprenticeship. Not that I was officially a padawan, though. Terryn had been training us, but she wasn't even really a jedi knight herself. My eyes went to Drace, barely containing himself as he watched this man paw at me. I shook my head at him, and mouthed the word 'no'. This only seemed to make him angrier. It didn't get any better as the man released my hair from both the braid and the tie that held it up at the back of my head, and I shuddered as he shook it out. I couldn't understand why he was doing this, in front of Drace, no less. Anyone could tell he was about to tear apart the men holding him, whether he threatened my life or not. He'd take his chances.

This did not stop the man holding me, however. He pressed his face into my hair, inhaling, and I winced as his hand slid along my waist slowly. I couldn't imagine anything worse than this, and yet Drace was the only one becoming upset by it. "Don't touch her!" He finally yelled, renewing his struggles against his captors. I inhaled sharply and squeezed my eyes shut, expecting the cold blade to cut into my neck at any time. But, instead I only felt him release me, and then shove me to the ground. When I opened my eyes again, a figure in a dark cloak stood across the clearing from Drace, wielding a lightsaber the color of blood against Drace's cool blue. Panic filled my eyes, and I felt sure that Drace would lose. I told my muscles to move, I screamed at my legs to get up, but nothing worked. I could only watch as they circle one another, more dark-garbed figures watching from the trees.

The battle itself did not last long, as I knew it wouldn't. Drace lunged first, but his movements were slug-like in comparison to the man in black. He dodged and parried as though Drace were a child, and finally clipped Drace's skull with the hilt of his saber, sending him tumbling to the ground. My heart stopped as he crumbled, and time seemed to slow, letting me capture every second as though with a camera, every crimson drop that flowed from his skull. As his eyes fell shut, time returned to normal, and the cloaked man bent down and lifted Drace up easily, as though he weighed as little as a small child. "No!" I briefly regained enough control to scream the word and scramble to my feet, but as my eyes met those of the mysterious man, I froze, unable to move another muscle. My eyes left his, locking onto Drace's unmoving form as he was carried off, his lightsaber collected. "No..." I rasped, barely able to choke out the word. The cloaked man turned back, handing Drace off to one of his lackies, and returned to stand in front of me, smiling down at me, his dark eyes cold.

"No harm shall befall him, dear girl. Of that, you have my word. But I ask that you do not try to follow us...he is mine now." I didn't understand the concept of what he wanted. How could I not be with Drace? I wanted no part in a life that didn't hold him. I don't know what he saw in my eyes then, but whatever it was had him turn around and stalk out of the clearing, all trace that he was here vanishing, along with my childhood friend, my sparring partner, and the love of my life.

It seemed like an eternity before I could move again, and I crumpled to the ground as dead weight. The shadow passed over me again, and I looked up in time to see the sleek cruiser leave orvit. I memorised every detail of that ship, so when I saw it again, I'd know it. Stay here? Ha! Never before had such an insane thought been utttered aloud! I was just getting to my feet, my resolve solidifying, when Terryn came running over, breathing hard, her eyes wild as she took in the scene. She held her lightsaber at the ready, which was strange. Terryn very rarely drew it, for any reason. "Drace?" I winced at the sound of his name.

"They took him...do you know who they are, where they went? I must follow." I looked into her eyes, and for the first time in my life, I saw fear there.

"They are fallen, Sakina. Jedi who have fallen from the light, and now defy the Jedi order, seeking power over peace and wishing to rule. I had heard rumors of them before we left, and it is them, I assume, who killed those at the academy." I was startled by this. Evil jedi? Terryn had never before spoken of such a terror. It was inconceivable to me, a foreign concept. They had learned the same jedi code I had, hadn't they? Peace was the Jedi way, and seeking power was out of the question. Power came as a result of seeking discipline, serenity, harmony with the force. It was a side effect, not to be sought openly.

"Why did they take Drace? They would have killed us ten years ago, so why didn't they kill us now?" I demanded. I was grateful for life, but this puzzled me. There was no doubt in my mind the man in black alone could have killed both Drace and myself. So why didn't he?

"It...is possible they wish to build up their forces. The jedi are powerful, even after losing so many younglings and padawans ten years ago. The masters themselves will not be so easy to murder as sleeping children were. Perhaps they wish to gather as many force-adepts as they can, even those with jedi training, such as Drace, so they can corrupt them." This made her uncomfortable.

"Then why not me too?"

"Why they left you alive is of greater concern. Sakina, you are remarkable with the force. A padawan with your skill is unheard of, let alone your...disposition. You don't get angry, or scared, not very easily. You remain calm, regardless the situation. That is how a jedi is. Drace is...different." She paused, looking away from me. I waited for her to continue. "He angers easily and has little patience, his emotions overrun reason and rationality in his mind. It worries me. I have been trying to help him control his emotions, but I was never trained for this. Perhaps the masters at the academy could have helped...but I have seen it coming for some time now. Drace has not fallen, not yet. But the possibility of it was always there. I had hoped you would help him calm down as you grew up together, but...I was wrong." She sighed, letting her head hang.

"Then...I cannot fall to the darkness?" I inquired. She looked up fearfully.

"Yes, of course you can! Do not become arrogant because I have told you of your power! Arrogance will lead you to destruction, as sure as Drace's anger will lead to it." She spoke quickly, and I nodded.

"I understand. Our ship is still able to fly, then? We must depart at once." Now that I knew who we were up against, I was eager to get moving. The longer we left Drace with them, the better the chance he would fall.

"You're not ready to face them, and nor am I." She shook her head at me.

"Then teach me! I must go after them, don't you see? Drace is in danger!" I had to get that across to her, no matter the cost.

"Sakina, you have power and talent, but you lack training. I have taught you all I know, there is nothing more you can learn from me."

"Then who? Who can teach us?" I wasn't going to give up. She thought about it for a moment, still looking uncomfortable.

"Sakina, I do not wish to see you die. Drace is lost...can you not accept that? We are safe here, if they left us alone, they will not return." I couldn't believe she'd even consider such a thing! I stared at her in disbelief and shook my head.

"He is not lost, and I won't give up on him. Tell me who can teach me, Terryn, please. I need your help. If you would stay here, then fine. I will go alone. But I will not abandon him to the darkness." Terryn sighed.

"Coruscant, the Galactic City. It is in the navicomputer. I do not know if the jedi are still there, but you should be able to find someone who can help you there." I could see the remorse in her eyes. "I cannot go with you...but come with me a moment." She led me back towards the ship, where I'd intended to go anyways. She dug around in a compartment, and a moment later presented me with a neatly folded stack of clothes, with her lightsaber on top. "My jedi tunic, which I wore when we first came here. And my lightsaber...they took yours, and you'll need one where you're going." I smiled.

"Thank you, Terryn, but I wish you'd come too." She shook her head.

"I have been out here too long to return...and I kidnapped two younglings. I would be executed upon my return, or at least exiled, back out here. We'll skip the middle part, and I shall remain here." Terryn took one step outside, and whistled sharply. A moment later, Reeler bounded into the ship, nearly knocking Terryn over. "Take Reeler, though. He may be helpful." I stepped forward and hugged her.

"I'll miss you."

"Do no such thing. Find Drace, and bring him back here. Do not let him fall to the dark side, Sakina! That is your charge." I nodded, and we separated, she returning to the woods. I took a seat in the pilots chair, and Reeler found a place behind it. In moments, we were breaking free of orbit, and I was engaging the hyperdrive.

Coruscant, here I come.


	4. Return

The next months past, sometimes so quickly they seemed to blur together, and sometimes they dragged on so slowly I thought they'd never end. I arrived at Coruscant within a few weeks of my departure, as Terryn had said I would, and while I watched ships pass by me on radar, none hailed me. I was left alone, with my thoughts.

Those first weeks, alone in the ship with a very antsy Reeler, were the worst of the worst. I had nothing to occupy myself, and so when I wasn't meditating or making excruciatingly detailed course corrections, my mind wandered back to Drace.

Where was he? What were they doing to him? Was he even still alive? These thoughts would come first, and then I would picture Drace, his throat cut and bleeding, beaten and bruised, dead on some backwater planet, forgotten. Unbidden, tears would swell in my eyes and my body became stiff as terror filled me. My breathing became quick and laboured, my imaginings creating a pain in my chest unlike any I'd ever experienced, and unlike any I've experienced even up until now. That was the worst of it, the wondering, the worry.

When I finally arrived on Coruscant, it took almost no time for me to find the Jedi Temple. The size of it astounded me, it seemed so much bigger than I recalled...and so much emptier. As I walked those halls I'd called home as a child, there wasn't anyone else around, no attendants, no padawans, and no teachers. The echo of the pain I'd felt as a child when they were all killed returned, briefly, before I shoved it back. This wasn't a time to mourn for those long dead, but a time to rescue the living. Drace needed me. I needed to focus.

As I came upon the security room, I raised a hand to open the door...to no avail. Quickly, I scanned the flashing display by the side of the door...and found that it was no longer flashing. I sighed when I realized that it must've lost power over the last few years. And yet, I had the curious feeling that what I needed was behind that ergonomically sealed door. Well, there had to be another way in, I knew, and I set off to search for one.

I shivered and wrapped my arms about my body as a chill breeze ran over my body,a curious thing. Coruscant was windy, certainly, but the Jedi Temple had always been well insulated against the wind. Even in its' dilapidated state, I wondered at how so much air would squeeze through the ventilation system. The answer became all too apparent when I walked around a corner and a blast of frigid, smoggy air collided with my entire body, stopping me momentarily in my tracks. I blinked at the wall ahead...only to find it completely missing.

I could only gape for a moment, as vehicles continued to woosh through the darkness before me, about the large hole before me, its edges blackened by acrid smoke from decades ago. Well, mystery of the breeze solved then...and maybe, if I was lucky, my problem with the security room, too.

I steeled myself against the cold and the strength of the wind pushing me back as I stepped to the very edge of the building, and made the mistake of looking down. I couldn't even see the ground, just darkness extending on forever, it seemed. I stepped back and took a deep breath, reminding myself of why I was here; this had to be done. Moving quickly and yet as surely as I could, I clung to one side of the blackened hole, found a footing to cling to, and slid out to the outer wall of the building, willing myself to look for hand and footholds, careful not to let my eyes stray back down to the frightening sight below.

Slowly, slowly, my frozen fingers creeped from one rocky crag to the next, and my feet slid along the ledge, nearing where I knew the window into the security room should be. When I finally found myself next to it, I focused on the thick latch that held the window fast, willing it loose from its hold, until it banged open next to me. Grateful for the respite, I grabbed the edge of the window and swung myself over the window, looking back out over the city for a moment longer before I spun around and took a step forward, a step that had me bumping into something solid and warm, before I fell back onto my butt on the floor. When I regained my senses, I looked up at the dark figures hovering over me, and swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Well, well, well...what do we have here?"

* * *

A/N: Wow, it's been a while! And it's a short chapter...but most of my chapters are short anyways, so it's okay...right? XD Sorry...I was having trouble deciding what to do next, and while I had something way longer, to be true, it wasn't right. It rushed the story too much, and it always felt wrong, so that's why I didn't put it up three months ago when I wrote it. But I was struck with inspiration, so here we have it, a nice, short little chapter. Hope you like it! I know what I'm doing now, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I get the next chapter up!

BTW, I write faster when I have reviews to encourage me on! .U


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